Bold Birds Nashville Hot Chicken — Restaurant in Jacksonville

I really, really, really wanted this place to be a hit! I have been looking forward to it since I first heard of its opening on Memorial Day weekend. We waited for the expected "opening kinks" to be worked out. I purposely did not read reviews because I wanted to have an honest unbiased opinion. So, here it is....my experience from this afternoon. We were so excited that we found a close parking spot and that there was not a line! The employee that took our order was nice, informative and shared our enthusiasm about this new experience. She answered our questions, made suggestions and was cheerful to interact with! All looking good so far.... Bring on the chicken!!! It was delivered to the table with an explaination of what we ordered and that was about it. Our first bites were puzzling. I had the mild tenders and my wife had the 1/4 chicken with no heat. Sides were mac n cheese, coleslaw and we sprung for some fries. The fries were the highlight of the meal. They were seasoned and cooked well. Our chicken had ZERO flavor. Heat and flavor are two different things. We expected to be flavorful chicken & breading included with the additional kick of heat....but that was not our chicken. The 1/4 chicken was visibally over cooked, breading was flavorless but the actual chicken was ok. The mac n cheese was nothing special. Kinda like the boxed variety except baked. The coleslaw was more of a punishment instead of a treat with a warm temperature and lack of flavor. The employees did not look happy or like they enjoyed being there. The manager was set up at a table near the kitchen and occasionally walked around. There was no smiles, no checking on customers and no thank yous for patronizing a new business. Another customer sat near the managers table with his family and attempted to make small talk with her. She couldnt even give him the respect to lift her head and look at him. Then an applicant came in for an interview and the manager continued to look down and work on her paperwork while the applicant sat there, akwardly waiting. This location is all about people and community. I was highly disappointed at the $28 we spent for our meal. I wanted to honestly return it after the first bite....but where was the customer service?! Most likely will not convince myself or my wife to...

10/17/2020 UPDATE: After seeing Huey's reviews improve since its opening, I decided to give it another shot. Ordered another 1/4 dark medium, this time with a side of fries. There weren't many people inside. The service was still excellent and friendly. I got my order in about 15 minutes, a reasonable time.

The chicken... oh man. SUCH an improvement since the last time I came. It was fresh, sauce-y, and full of flavor. I walked out a full, satisfied customer.

Was Huey's worth trying again? Oh yeah. Would I come back? TOTALLY. The prices are still not the lowest, but overall I think Huey's has redeemed itself in my book. ORIGINAL (Opening Day): I came on opening day with the family and I ordered a 1/4 dark medium level with a side of mac and cheese. The restaurant was relatively empty, but it was still about a 40 minute wait for all of our food. I gave the benefit of the doubt considering it was the first day.

I tried the mac and cheese first. It was... basic. Bland, even. Nothing to write home about.

The chicken was next. The only "Nashville Hot Chicken" I've ever had was at KFC (which, from what I've heard, is definitely NOT it), and I wanted to finally enjoy some authentic hot chicken. It was okay. It wasn't as sauce-y as I wanted it to be, and it tasted like a generic piece of fried chicken with dry rub.

I WILL say that the service was good during our visit. The person at the register was very friendly and suggested some sides to try when we asked. The person who gave us our order gladly got us water cups too, and two other employees came to our table later on asking how our food was/if we needed anything.

Was Huey's worth trying? Sure. Would I come back? Unfortunately, probably not. The quality of the food doesn't match up with the prices...

Went to Huey’a tonight for dinner. I went in with moderate expectations because I had only heard good things, but I knew that opening weekend would probably mean slower service. What I wasn’t expecting was entirely disappointing and borderline rude service.

My friend and I stood in line for a total of 40 minutes before we could even get to the register, which wasn’t horrible considering it is opening weekend. During our wait, a woman who I am assuming is one of the managers was making sure people were following social distance guidelines by barking orders at people to remain six feet apart in a - frankly - rude tone. The owner stopped to talk to us as we waited but ended up walking away from us as I was in the middle of a sentence and never came back, which I found beyond rude.

Once I finally got to the register to order, the girl running the register didn’t say anything to me. She smiled at me for about fifteen seconds before I started to order and she interrupted me to ask if it was dine-in or to go. I told her it was dine-in and she then stared at me again for another fifteen seconds without saying anything before I ordered.

I got the mild chicken tenders with fries. The chicken tasted like it was cooked in old oil with hardly any flavor, which was disappointing after the reviews I had read. When the girl brought our food out, she set the food down and walked away without saying anything past what she handed me; I didn’t even get to look at her before she walked away. I had to track someone down to ask for a side of ranch. No one ever came and checked on our table or asked how our food or experience was.

TL;DR: after hearing nothing but good things, the food was mediocre and the service was bad. Don’t know if I...